Systems and methods for update propagation between nodes in a distributed system

ABSTRACT

Methods and apparatus to propagate an update between nodes in a distributed environment are disclosed. An example apparatus includes a first virtual appliance configured to install an update using an update file from a first update repository, the first update repository located apart from the first virtual appliance, the first virtual appliance configured to form a second update repository at the first virtual appliance, the second update repository to include a copy of the update file from the first update repository. The example apparatus also includes a second virtual appliance, the second virtual appliance formed as a replica of the first virtual appliance, the second virtual appliance to install the update using the copy of the update file from the second update repository.

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

The present disclosure relates generally to cloud computing and, moreparticularly, to methods and apparatus to propagate updates betweennodes in a distributed environment such as a cloud computingenvironment.

BACKGROUND

Virtualizing computer systems provides benefits such as an ability toexecute multiple computer systems on a single hardware computer,replicating computer systems, moving computer systems among multiplehardware computers, and so forth.

“Infrastructure-as-a-Service” (also commonly referred to as “IaaS”)generally describes a suite of technologies provided as an integratedsolution to allow for elastic creation of a virtualized, networked, andpooled computing platform (sometimes referred to as a “cloud computingplatform”). Enterprises may use IaaS as a business-internalorganizational cloud computing platform (sometimes referred to as a“private cloud”) that gives an application developer access toinfrastructure resources, such as virtualized servers, storage, andnetworking resources. By providing ready access to the hardwareresources required to run an application, the cloud computing platformenables developers to build, deploy, and manage the lifecycle of a webapplication (or any other type of networked application) at a greaterscale and at a faster pace than ever before.

Cloud computing environments may include many processing units (e.g.,servers). Other components of a cloud computing environment includestorage devices, networking devices (e.g., switches), etc. Current cloudcomputing environment configuration relies on much manual user input andconfiguration to install, configure, and deploy the components of thecloud computing environment.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 depicts an example system constructed in accordance with theteachings of this disclosure for managing a cloud computing platform.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example generation of a multi-machine blueprint bythe example blueprint manager of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example installation of deployed virtual machinesand associated servers acting as hosts for deployment of componentservers for a customer.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example implementation of a virtual appliance.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example installation of deployed virtualappliances and associated component servers including a remote updaterepository and local repository(-ies).

FIG. 6 illustrates an example data flow diagram showing an exchange ofinformation between master and replica virtual appliances and associatedrepositories.

FIGS. 7-10 depict flowcharts representative of computer readableinstructions that may be executed to implement the example update ofvirtual appliances.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram of an example processing platform capable ofexecuting the example machine-readable instructions of FIGS. 7-10 toimplement the systems and data flows of FIGS. 1-6.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Cloud computing is based on the deployment of many physical resourcesacross a network, virtualizing the physical resources into virtualresources, and provisioning the virtual resources to perform cloudcomputing services and applications. Example systems for virtualizingcomputer systems are described in U.S. patent application Ser. No.11/903,374, entitled “METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR MANAGING VIRTUAL AND REALMACHINES,” filed Sep. 21, 2007, and granted as U.S. Pat. No. 8,171,485,which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

Cloud computing platforms may provide many powerful capabilities forperforming computing operations. However, taking advantage of thesecomputing capabilities manually may be complex and/or requiresignificant training and/or expertise. Prior techniques to providingcloud computing platforms and services often require customers tounderstand details and configurations of hardware and software resourcesto establish and configure the cloud computing platform. Methods andapparatus disclosed herein facilitate the management of virtual machineresources in cloud computing platforms.

A virtual machine is a software computer that, like a physical computer,runs an operating system and applications. An operating system installedon a virtual machine is referred to as a guest operating system. Becauseeach virtual machine is an isolated computing environment, virtualmachines (VMs) can be used as desktop or workstation environments, astesting environments, to consolidate server applications, etc. Virtualmachines can run on hosts or clusters. The same host can run a pluralityof VMs, for example.

As disclosed in detail herein, methods and apparatus disclosed hereinprovide for automation of management tasks such as provisioning multiplevirtual machines for a multiple-machine computing system (e.g., a groupof servers that inter-operate), linking provisioned virtual machines andtasks to desired systems to execute those virtual machines or tasks,and/or reclaiming cloud computing resources that are no longer in use.The improvements to cloud management systems (e.g., the vCloudAutomation Center (vCAC) from VMware®, the vRealize Automation CloudAutomation Software from VMware®), interfaces, portals, etc. disclosedherein may be utilized individually and/or in any combination. Forexample, all or a subset of the described improvements may be utilized.

As used herein, availability refers to the level of redundancy requiredto provide continuous operation expected for the workload domain. Asused herein, performance refers to the computer processing unit (CPU)operating speeds (e.g., CPU gigahertz (GHz)), memory (e.g., gigabytes(GB) of random access memory (RAM)), mass storage (e.g., GB hard drivedisk (HDD), GB solid state drive (SSD)), and power capabilities of aworkload domain. As used herein, capacity refers to the aggregate numberof resources (e.g., aggregate storage, aggregate CPU, etc.) across allservers associated with a cluster and/or a workload domain. In examplesdisclosed herein, the number of resources (e.g., capacity) for aworkload domain is determined based on the redundancy, the CPU operatingspeed, the memory, the storage, the security, and/or the powerrequirements selected by a user. For example, more resources arerequired for a workload domain as the user-selected requirementsincrease (e.g., higher redundancy, CPU speed, memory, storage, security,and/or power options require more resources than lower redundancy, CPUspeed, memory, storage, security, and/or power options).

Example Virtualization Environments

Many different types of virtualization environments exist. Three exampletypes of virtualization environment are: full virtualization,paravirtualization, and operating system virtualization.

Full virtualization, as used herein, is a virtualization environment inwhich hardware resources are managed by a hypervisor to provide virtualhardware resources to a virtual machine. In a full virtualizationenvironment, the virtual machines do not have direct access to theunderlying hardware resources. In a typical full virtualizationenvironment, a host operating system with embedded hypervisor (e.g.,VMware ESXi®) is installed on the server hardware. Virtual machinesincluding virtual hardware resources are then deployed on thehypervisor. A guest operating system is installed in the virtualmachine. The hypervisor manages the association between the hardwareresources of the server hardware and the virtual resources allocated tothe virtual machines (e.g., associating physical random access memory(RAM) with virtual RAM). Typically, in full virtualization, the virtualmachine and the guest operating system have no visibility and/or directaccess to the hardware resources of the underlying server. Additionally,in full virtualization, a full guest operating system is typicallyinstalled in the virtual machine while a host operating system isinstalled on the server hardware. Example full virtualizationenvironments include VMware ESX®, Microsoft Hyper-V®, and Kernel BasedVirtual Machine (KVM).

Paravirtualization, as used herein, is a virtualization environment inwhich hardware resources are managed by a hypervisor to provide virtualhardware resources to a virtual machine and guest operating systems arealso allowed direct access to some or all of the underlying hardwareresources of the server (e.g., without accessing an intermediate virtualhardware resource). In a typical paravirtualization system, a hostoperating system (e.g., a Linux-based operating system) is installed onthe server hardware. A hypervisor (e.g., the Xen® hypervisor) executeson the host operating system. Virtual machines including virtualhardware resources are then deployed on the hypervisor. The hypervisormanages the association between the hardware resources of the serverhardware and the virtual resources allocated to the virtual machines(e.g., associating physical random access memory (RAM) with virtualRAM). In paravirtualization, the guest operating system installed in thevirtual machine is configured also to have direct access to some or allof the hardware resources of the server. For example, the guestoperating system may be precompiled with special drivers that allow theguest operating system to access the hardware resources without passingthrough a virtual hardware layer. For example, a guest operating systemmay be precompiled with drivers that allow the guest operating system toaccess a sound card installed in the server hardware. Directly accessingthe hardware (e.g., without accessing the virtual hardware resources ofthe virtual machine) may be more efficient, may allow for performance ofoperations that are not supported by the virtual machine and/or thehypervisor, etc.

Operating system virtualization is also referred to herein as containervirtualization. As used herein, operating system virtualization refersto a system in which processes are isolated in an operating system. In atypical operating system virtualization system, a host operating systemis installed on the server hardware. Alternatively, the host operatingsystem may be installed in a virtual machine of a full virtualizationenvironment or a paravirtualization environment. The host operatingsystem of an operating system virtualization system is configured (e.g.,utilizing a customized kernel) to provide isolation and resourcemanagement for processes that execute within the host operating system(e.g., applications that execute on the host operating system). Theisolation of the processes is known as a container. Several containersmay share a host operating system. Thus, a process executing within acontainer is isolated the process from other processes executing on thehost operating system. Thus, operating system virtualization providesisolation and resource management capabilities without the resourceoverhead utilized by a full virtualization environment or aparavirtualization environment. Alternatively, the host operating systemmay be installed in a virtual machine of a full virtualizationenvironment or a paravirtualization environment. Example operatingsystem virtualization environments include Linux Containers LXC and LXD,Docker™, OpenVZ™, etc.

In some instances, a data center (or pool of linked data centers) mayinclude multiple different virtualization environments. For example, adata center may include hardware resources that are managed by a fullvirtualization environment, a paravirtualization environment, and anoperating system virtualization environment. In such a data center, aworkload may be deployed to any of the virtualization environments.

FIG. 1 depicts an example system 100 constructed in accordance with theteachings of this disclosure for managing a cloud computing platform.The example system 100 includes an application director 106 and a cloudmanager 138 to manage a cloud computing platform provider 110 asdescribed in more detail below. As described herein, the example system100 facilitates management of the cloud provider 110 and does notinclude the cloud provider 110. Alternatively, the system 100 could beincluded in the cloud provider 110.

The cloud computing platform provider 110 provisions virtual computingresources (e.g., virtual machines, or “VMs,” 114) that may be accessedby users of the cloud computing platform 110 (e.g., users associatedwith an administrator 116 and/or a developer 118) and/or other programs,software, device. etc.

An example application 102 of FIG. 1 includes multiple VMs 114. Theexample VMs 114 of FIG. 1 provide different functions within theapplication 102 (e.g., services, portions of the application 102, etc.).One or more of the VMs 114 of the illustrated example are customized byan administrator 116 and/or a developer 118 of the application 102relative to a stock or out-of-the-box (e.g., commonly availablepurchased copy) version of the services and/or application components.Additionally, the services executing on the example VMs 114 may havedependencies on other ones of the VMs 114.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, the example cloud computing platform provider110 may provide multiple deployment environments 112, for example, fordevelopment, testing, staging, and/or production of applications. Theadministrator 116, the developer 118, other programs, and/or otherdevices may access services from the cloud computing platform provider110, for example, via REST (Representational State Transfer) APIs(Application Programming Interface) and/or via any other client-servercommunication protocol. Example implementations of a REST API for cloudcomputing services include a vCloud Administrator Center™ (vCAC) and/orvRealize Automation™ (vRA) API and a vCloud Director™ API available fromVMware, Inc. The example cloud computing platform provider 110provisions virtual computing resources (e.g., the VMs 114) to providethe deployment environments 112 in which the administrator 116 and/orthe developer 118 can deploy multi-tier application(s). One particularexample implementation of a deployment environment that may be used toimplement the deployment environments 112 of FIG. 1 is vCloud DataCentercloud computing services available from VMware, Inc.

In some examples disclosed herein, a lighter-weight virtualization isemployed by using containers in place of the VMs 114 in the developmentenvironment 112. Example containers 114 a are software constructs thatrun on top of a host operating system without the need for a hypervisoror a separate guest operating system. Unlike virtual machines, thecontainers 114 a do not instantiate their own operating systems. Likevirtual machines, the containers 114 a are logically separate from oneanother. Numerous containers can run on a single computer, processorsystem and/or in the same development environment 112. Also like virtualmachines, the containers 114 a can execute instances of applications orprograms (e.g., an example application 102 a) separate fromapplication/program instances executed by the other containers in thesame development environment 112.

The example application director 106 of FIG. 1, which may be running inone or more VMs, orchestrates deployment of multi-tier applications ontoone of the example deployment environments 112. As illustrated in FIG.1, the example application director 106 includes a topology generator120, a deployment plan generator 122, and a deployment director 124.

The example topology generator 120 generates a basic blueprint 126 thatspecifies a logical topology of an application to be deployed. Theexample basic blueprint 126 generally captures the structure of anapplication as a collection of application components executing onvirtual computing resources. For example, the basic blueprint 126generated by the example topology generator 120 for an online storeapplication may specify a web application (e.g., in the form of a Javaweb application archive or “WAR” file including dynamic web pages,static web pages, Java servlets, Java classes, and/or other property,configuration and/or resources files that make up a Java webapplication) executing on an application server (e.g., Apache Tomcatapplication server) that uses a database (e.g., MongoDB) as a datastore. As used herein, the term “application” generally refers to alogical deployment unit, including one or more application packages andtheir dependent middleware and/or operating systems. Applications may bedistributed across multiple VMs. Thus, in the example described above,the term “application” refers to the entire online store application,including application server and database components, rather than justthe web application itself. In some instances, the application mayinclude the underlying hardware and/or virtual computing hardwareutilized to implement the components.

The example basic blueprint 126 of FIG. 1 may be assembled from items(e.g., templates) from a catalog 130, which is a listing of availablevirtual computing resources (e.g., VMs, networking, storage, etc.) thatmay be provisioned from the cloud computing platform provider 110 andavailable application components (e.g., software services, scripts, codecomponents, application-specific packages) that may be installed on theprovisioned virtual computing resources. The example catalog 130 may bepre-populated and/or customized by an administrator 116 (e.g., IT(Information Technology) or system administrator) that enters inspecifications, configurations, properties, and/or other details aboutitems in the catalog 130. Based on the application, the exampleblueprints 126 may define one or more dependencies between applicationcomponents to indicate an installation order of the applicationcomponents during deployment. For example, since a load balancer usuallycannot be configured until a web application is up and running, thedeveloper 118 may specify a dependency from an Apache service to anapplication code package.

The example deployment plan generator 122 of the example applicationdirector 106 of FIG. 1 generates a deployment plan 128 based on thebasic blueprint 126 that includes deployment settings for the basicblueprint 126 (e.g., virtual computing resources' cluster size, CPU,memory, networks, etc.) and an execution plan of tasks having aspecified order in which virtual computing resources are provisioned andapplication components are installed, configured, and started. Theexample deployment plan 128 of FIG. 1 provides an IT administrator witha process-oriented view of the basic blueprint 126 that indicatesdiscrete actions to be performed to deploy the application. Differentdeployment plans 128 may be generated from a single basic blueprint 126to test prototypes (e.g., new application versions), to scale up and/orscale down deployments, and/or to deploy the application to differentdeployment environments 112 (e.g., testing, staging, production). Thedeployment plan 128 is separated and distributed as local deploymentplans having a series of tasks to be executed by the VMs 114 provisionedfrom the deployment environment 112. Each VM 114 coordinates executionof each task with a centralized deployment module (e.g., the deploymentdirector 124) to ensure that tasks are executed in an order thatcomplies with dependencies specified in the application blueprint 126.

The example deployment director 124 of FIG. 1 executes the deploymentplan 128 by communicating with the cloud computing platform provider 110via a cloud interface 132 to provision and configure the VMs 114 in thedeployment environment 112. The example cloud interface 132 of FIG. 1provides a communication abstraction layer by which the applicationdirector 106 may communicate with a heterogeneous mixture of cloudprovider 110 and deployment environments 112. The deployment director124 provides each VM 114 with a series of tasks specific to thereceiving VM 114 (herein referred to as a “local deployment plan”).Tasks are executed by the VMs 114 to install, configure, and/or startone or more application components. For example, a task may be a scriptthat, when executed by a VM 114, causes the VM 114 to retrieve andinstall particular software packages from a central package repository134. The example deployment director 124 coordinates with the VMs 114 toexecute the tasks in an order that observes installation dependenciesbetween VMs 114 according to the deployment plan 128. After theapplication has been deployed, the application director 106 may beutilized to monitor and/or modify (e.g., scale) the deployment.

The example cloud manager 138 of FIG. 1 interacts with the components ofthe system 100 (e.g., the application director 106 and the cloudprovider 110) to facilitate the management of the resources of the cloudprovider 110. The example cloud manager 138 includes a blueprint manager140 to facilitate the creation and management of multi-machineblueprints and a resource manager 144 to reclaim unused cloud resources.The cloud manager 138 may additionally include other components formanaging a cloud environment.

The example blueprint manager 140 of the illustrated example manages thecreation of multi-machine blueprints that define the attributes ofmultiple virtual machines as a single group that can be provisioned,deployed, managed, etc. as a single unit. For example, a multi-machineblueprint may include definitions for multiple basic blueprints thatmake up a service (e.g., an e-commerce provider that includes webservers, application servers, and database servers). A basic blueprintis a definition of policies (e.g., hardware policies, security policies,network policies, etc.) for a single machine (e.g., a single virtualmachine such as a web server virtual machine and/or container).Accordingly, the blueprint manager 140 facilitates more efficientmanagement of multiple virtual machines and/or containers than manuallymanaging (e.g., deploying) basic blueprints individually. Examplemanagement of multi-machine blueprints is described in further detail inconjunction with FIG. 2.

The example blueprint manager 140 of FIG. 1 additionally annotates basicblueprints and/or multi-machine blueprints to control how workflowsassociated with the basic blueprints and/or multi-machine blueprints areexecuted. As used herein, a workflow is a series of actions anddecisions to be executed in a virtual computing platform. The examplesystem 100 includes first and second distributed execution manager(s)(DEM(s)) 146A and 146B to execute workflows. According to theillustrated example, the first DEM 146A includes a first set ofcharacteristics and is physically located at a first location 148A. Thesecond DEM 146B includes a second set of characteristics and isphysically located at a second location 148B. The location andcharacteristics of a DEM may make that DEM more suitable for performingcertain workflows. For example, a DEM may include hardware particularlysuited for performance of certain tasks (e.g., high-end calculations),may be located in a desired area (e.g., for compliance with local lawsthat require certain operations to be physically performed within acountry's boundaries), may specify a location or distance to other DEMSfor selecting a nearby DEM (e.g., for reducing data transmissionlatency), etc. Thus, the example blueprint manager 140 annotates basicblueprints and/or multi-machine blueprints with capabilities that can beperformed by a DEM that is labeled with the same or similarcapabilities.

The resource manager 144 of the illustrated example facilitates recoveryof cloud computing resources of the cloud provider 110 that are nolonger being activity utilized. Automated reclamation may includeidentification, verification and/or reclamation of unused,underutilized, etc. resources to improve the efficiency of the runningcloud infrastructure.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example implementation of the blueprint 126 as amulti-machine blueprint generated by the example blueprint manager 140of FIG. 1. In the illustrated example of FIG. 2, three example basicblueprints (a web server blueprint 202, an application server blueprint204, and a database (DB) server blueprint 206) have been created (e.g.,by the topology generator 120). For example, the web server blueprint202, the application server blueprint 204, and the database serverblueprint 206 may define the components of an e-commerce online store.

The example blueprint manager 140 provides a user interface for a userof the blueprint manager 140 (e.g., the administrator 116, the developer118, etc.) to specify blueprints (e.g., basic blueprints and/ormulti-machine blueprints) to be assigned to an instance of amulti-machine blueprint 208. For example, the user interface may includea list of previously generated basic blueprints (e.g., the web serverblueprint 202, the application server blueprint 204, the database serverblueprint 206, etc.) to allow selection of desired blueprints. Theblueprint manager 140 combines the selected blueprints into thedefinition of the multi-machine blueprint 208 and stores informationabout the blueprints in a multi-machine blueprint record defining themulti-machine blueprint 208. The blueprint manager 140 may additionallyinclude a user interface to specify other characteristics correspondingto the multi-machine blueprint 208. For example, a creator of themulti-machine blueprint 208 may specify a minimum number and a maximumnumber of each blueprint component of the multi-machine blueprint 208that may be provisioned during provisioning of the multi-machineblueprint 208.

Accordingly, any number of virtual machines (e.g., the virtual machinesassociated with the blueprints in the multi-machine blueprint 208)and/or containers may be managed collectively. For example, the multiplevirtual machines corresponding to the multi-machine blueprint 208 may beprovisioned based on an instruction to provision the multi-machineblueprint 208, may be power cycled by an instruction, may be shut downby an instruction, may be booted by an instruction, etc. As illustratedin FIG. 2, an instruction to provision the multi-machine blueprint 208may result in the provisioning of a multi-machine service formed fromone or more VMs 114 that includes virtualized web server(s) 210A,virtualized application server(s) 210B, and virtualized databaseserver(s) 210C. The number of virtual machines and/or containersprovisioned for each blueprint may be specified during the provisioningof the multi-machine blueprint 208 (e.g., subject to the limitsspecified during creation or management of the multi-machine blueprint208).

The multi-machine blueprint 208 maintains the reference to the basicblueprints 202, 204, 206. Accordingly, changes made to the blueprints(e.g., by a manager of the blueprints different than the manager of themulti-machine blueprint 208) may be incorporated into futureprovisioning of the multi-machine blueprint 208. Accordingly, anadministrator maintaining the source blueprints (e.g., an administratorcharged with managing the web server blueprint 202) may change or updatethe source blueprint and the changes may be automatically propagated tothe machines provisioned from the multi-machine blueprint 208. Forexample, if an operating system update is applied to a disk imagereferenced by the web server blueprint 202 (e.g., a disk image embodyingthe primary disk of the web server blueprint 202), the updated diskimage is utilized when deploying the multi-machine blueprint.Additionally, the blueprints may specify that the machines 210A, 210B,210C of the multi-machine service 210 provisioned from the multi-machineblueprint 208 operate in different environments. For example, somecomponents may be physical machines, some may be on-premise virtualmachines, and some may be virtual machines at a cloud service.

Several multi-machine blueprints may be generated to provide one or morevaried or customized services. For example, if virtual machines deployedin the various States of the United States require different settings, amulti-machine blueprint could be generated for each state. Themulti-machine blueprints could reference the same build profile and/ordisk image, but may include different settings specific to each state.For example, the deployment workflow may include an operation to set alocality setting of an operating system to identify a particular statein which a resource is physically located. Thus, a single disk image maybe utilized for multiple multi-machine blueprints reducing the amount ofstorage space for storing disk images compared with storing a disk imagefor each customized setting.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example installation of deployed appliances orvirtual appliances (vAs) (e.g., VMs 114 and/or containers 114 a) andassociated virtualized servers acting as hosts for deployment ofcomponent servers (e.g., Web server, application server, databaseserver, etc.) for a customer. The vAs can be deployed as an automationtool, for example, used to deliver VMs and associated applications foron-premise automation and/or handling of external cloud resources (e.g.,Microsoft Azure™, Amazon Web Services™, etc.).

As shown in the example of FIG. 3, an installation 300 includes a loadbalancer (LB) 310 to assign tasks and/or manage access among a pluralityof vAs 320, 322, 324. Each vA 320-324 is a deployed VM 114 and/orcontainer 114 a. In this example, the vA 320 communicates with aplurality of component or host servers 330, 332, 334, 336 which storecomponents for execution by users (e.g., Web server 210A with Webcomponents, App server 210B with application components, DB server 210Cwith database components, etc.). As shown in the example of FIG. 3,component servers 334, 336 can stem from component server 330 ratherthan (or in addition to) directly from the virtual appliance 320,although the vA 320 can still communicate with such servers 334, 336.The LB 310 enables the multiple vAs 320-324 and multiple servers 330-336to appear as one device to a user. Access to functionality can then bedistributed among appliances 320-324 by the LB 310 and among servers330-336 by the respective appliance 320, for example. The LB 310 can useleast response time, round-robin, and/or other method to balance trafficto vAs 320-324 and servers 330-336, for example.

In the example installation 300, each vA 320, 322, 324 includes amanagement endpoint 340, 342, 344. Each component server 330, 332, 334,336 includes a management agent 350, 352, 354, 356. The managementagents 350-356 can communicate with their respective endpoint 340 tofacilitate transfer of data, execution of tasks, etc., for example.

In certain examples, the management agents 350-356 synchronize componentservers 330-336 with the vA 320-234 and facilitate host access andassociated services (e.g., hostd, ntpd, sfcbd, slpd, wsman, vobd, etc.).The management agents 350-356 can communicate with their respectiveendpoint 340 to facilitate transfer of data, execution of tasks, etc.,for example. The relationship between management endpoint 340, 342, 344and associated management agents 350, 352, 354, 356 can be used todeploy and install software on multiple component machines 330, 332,334, 336.

In certain examples, a graphical user interface associated with a frontend of the load balancer 310 guides a customer through one or morequestions to determine system requirements for the installation 300.Once the customer has completed the questionnaire and provided firewallaccess to install the agents 350-356, the agents 350-356 communicatewith the endpoint 340 without customer involvement. Thus, for example,if a new employee needs a Microsoft Windows® machine, a manager selectsan option (e.g., clicks a button, etc.) via the graphical user interfaceto install a VM 114 and/or container 114 a that is managed through theinstallation 300. To the user, he or she is working on a single machine,but behind the scenes, the virtual appliance (vA) 320 is accessingdifferent servers 330-336 depending upon what functionality is to beexecuted.

In certain examples agents 350-356 are deployed in a same data center asthe endpoint 340 to which the agents 350-356 are associated. Thedeployment can include a plurality of agent servers 330-336 distributedworldwide, and the deployment can be scalable to accommodate additionalserver(s) with agent(s) to increase throughput and concurrency, forexample.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example implementation of the vA 320. In theexample of FIG. 4, the vA 320 includes a service provisioner 410, anorchestrator 420, an event broker 430, an authentication provider 440,an internal reverse proxy 450, a database 460, and an update manager470. The components 410, 420, 430, 440, 450, 460, 470 of the vA 320 maybe implemented by one or more of the VMs 114. The example serviceprovisioner 410 provides services to provision interfaces (e.g., Webinterface, application interface, etc.) for the vA 320. The exampleorchestrator (e.g., vCO) 420 is an embedded or internal orchestratorthat can leverage a provisioning manager, such as the applicationdirector 106 and/or cloud manager 138, to provision VM services but isembedded in the vA 320. For example, the vCO 420 can be used to invoke ablueprint to provision a manager for services.

Example services can include catalog services, identity services,component registry services, event broker services, IaaS, XaaS, etc.Catalog services provide a user interface via which a user can requestprovisioning of different preset environments (e.g., a VM including anoperating system and software and some customization, etc.), forexample. Identity services facilitate authentication and authorizationof users and assigned roles, for example. The component registrymaintains information corresponding to installed and deployed services(e.g., uniform resource locators for services installed in a VM/vA,etc.), for example. The event broker provides a messaging broker forevent-based communication, for example. The IaaS provisions one or moreVMs and/or containers for a customer via the vA 320. The XaaS can extendthe provisioning to also request, approve, provision, operate, anddecommission any type of catalog items (e.g., storage, applications,accounts, and anything else that the catalog provides as a service).

The example event broker 430 provides a mechanism to handle tasks whichare transferred between services with the orchestrator 420. The exampleauthentication provider 440 (e.g., VMware Horizon™ services, etc.)authenticates access to services and data, for example. The exampleupdate handler 470 facilitates upgrade and/or other update of the vA 320from one or more sources (e.g., an external repository, internal relay,etc.).

The components of the vA 320 access each other through REST API callsbehind the internal reverse proxy 450 (e.g., a high availability (HA)proxy HAProxy) which provides a high availability load balancer andproxy for Transmission Control Protocol (TCP)- and Hypertext TransferProtocol (HTTP)-based application requests. In this example, the proxy450 forwards communication traffic from within the vA 320 and/or betweenvAs 320, 322, 324 of FIG. 3 to the appropriate component(s) of the vA320. In certain examples, services access the local host/proxy 450 on aparticular port, and the call is masked by the proxy 450 and forwardedto the particular component of the vA 320. Since the call is masked bythe proxy 450, components can be adjusted within the vA 320 withoutimpacting outside users.

Example Replication

In certain examples, as described above, each vA 320, 322, 324 includesa management endpoint 340, 342, 344, and each component server 330, 332,334, 336 includes a management agent 350, 352, 354, 356. The managementagents 350-356 synchronize component servers 330-336 with the vA 320-324and facilitate host access and associated services (e.g., hostd, ntpd,sfcbd, slpd, wsman, vobd, etc.). The management agents 350-356 cancommunicate with their respective endpoint 340 to facilitate transfer ofdata, execution of tasks, etc., for example. The relationship betweenmanagement endpoint 340, 342, 344 and associated management agents 350,352, 354, 356 can be used to deploy and install software on multiplecomponent machines 330, 332, 334, 336. In certain examples, installationof software, such as an update and/or upgrade to the vA 320-324 can befacilitated by installing software on a master vA 320 and thenreplicating that installation on a plurality of replica vA 322-324 toeliminate manual installation on the other vA 322-324.

A replica vA 322, 324 is a copy of the master vA 320 including the samesoftware, prerequisites, etc., as the master vA 320, for example. Whilethe replica vA 322, 324 is separately addressable (e.g., differentidentifier, media access control (MAC) address, etc.), the replica orclone is otherwise a copy of the vA 320. Installing an update, upgrade,and/or other software on a plurality of vA 320-324 can be timeconsuming. With replicas 322-324, the master vA 320 can be copied from asingle installation and configuration process, for example.

Replicas or clones are useful, for example, when many identical virtualmachines are to be deployed in a group. For example, a company,department, etc., can clone a virtual machine for each employee, with asuite of preconfigured office applications. A virtual machine can beconfigured with a complete development environment and then clonedrepeatedly as a baseline configuration for software testing, forexample. A teacher can clone a virtual machine for each student, withall the lessons and labs required for the term loaded on each clonedmachine. With clones, complete copies of a virtual machine can beconveniently made without browsing a host file system or worrying if allconfiguration files have been located.

Replicas or clones can be full or linked clones/replicas, for example. Afull clone is an independent copy of a virtual machine that sharesnothing with the parent virtual machine after the cloning operation.Ongoing operation of a full clone is entirely separate from the parentvirtual machine. A linked clone is a copy of a virtual machine thatshares virtual disks with the parent virtual machine in an ongoingmanner. Sharing conserves disk space and allows multiple virtualmachines to use the same software installation, for example.

A full clone is an independent virtual machine with no need to accessthe parent. Full clones do not require an ongoing connection to theparent virtual machine. Because a full clone does not share virtualdisks with the parent virtual machine, full clones generally performbetter than linked clones. However, full clones take longer to createthan linked clones. Creating a full clone can take several minutes ifthe files involved are large.

A linked clone is made from a snapshot of the parent. A snapshotcaptures an entire state of a virtual machine at the time the snapshotis taken. A snapshot can include contents of the virtual machine'smemory, virtual machine settings, state of the virtual machines' disks,etc. Files available on the parent at the moment of the snapshotcontinue to remain available to the linked clone. Ongoing changes to thevirtual disk of the parent do not affect the linked clone, and changesto the disk of the linked clone do not affect the parent.

A linked clone or replica must have access to the parent. Without accessto the parent, a linked clone is disabled. Linked clones are createdswiftly, so a unique virtual machine can be easily created for each taskto be done. A virtual machine can be easily shared with other users bystoring the virtual machine on a local network, where other users canquickly make a linked clone. This facilitates collaboration: forexample, a support team can reproduce a bug in a virtual machine, and anengineer can quickly make a linked clone of that virtual machine to workon the bug.

A full clone or replica is a complete and independent copy of a virtualmachine. However, the full clone duplicates only the state of thevirtual machine at the instant of the cloning operation. Thus, the fullclone does not have access to any snapshots that may exist of the parentvirtual machine.

Example Systems and Methods to Update

Upgrading and/or otherwise updating (referred to herein as “updating” or“update” for convenience in description) a distributed system includingmultiple nodes of the same type (e.g., multiple vAs 320-324, etc.) caninvolve many manual user actions to trigger the update and/or upgradeprocess on each machine individually. Such a manual user process alsorequires all the update/upgrade packages to be downloaded to eachmachine from the same source.

Even in an automated update process, prerequisite evaluations must becompleted on all affected machines (e.g., all vAs 320-324), whichinvolves shutting down replica nodes or stopping the services on thosereplica nodes. An update is triggered on the master appliance, and themaster update must finish and reboot before the replica appliances canbegin the update procedure. Each replica node must then rejoin itscluster to synchronize configuration files that may have changed in theupdate process.

This process is extremely tedious and error prone at least in partbecause it requires a lot of manual steps in an exact order. In certainexamples, to reduce manual actions, the master appliance 320 is used totrigger the update on replica nodes 322-324 during the update of themaster appliance 320, triggering the replicas 322-324 to download theupdate package (e.g., Red Hat Package Manager (RPM) files and/or otherpackage management files, etc.) from a master node and complete theprerequisites on the replica nodes.

An example appliance update includes three phases: pre-update, updateand post-update. Prior to pre-update, update package files aredownloaded (e.g., from an update repository 502 as shown in the exampleof FIG. 5, etc.) by the update manager 470, and a set of packages tofacilitate the update process are installed on the appliance 320-324.Then, pre-update scripts are executed to prepare the appliance 320-324for the update. During the update, package files are executed. Then,during post-update, post-update related scripts are executed on theappliance.

In certain examples, to stop services on the replica appliances 322-324,a script is added to the pre-update scripts of the master appliance 320(e.g., via the interface 132 and/or other trigger as shown in theexample configuration 500 of FIG. 5, etc.). The added script calls anendpoint 342, 344 on the replica appliances 322, 324 to stop servicessuch as vcac-server, rabbitmq-server, vco-server, and/or other vRArelated services. Post-update, the master node 320 triggers the updateof replica nodes 322-324. First, a local repository 504, mirroring orsimilar to the remote repository 502 of update package files, is createdon the master appliance 320. Replica nodes 322-324 are configured to usethe local repository 504 instead of the remote repository 502 from whichthe master node 320 downloaded its update files. Thus, the replica nodes322-324 can access update content locally, rather than remotely, andaccess it concurrently with other replica nodes 322-324, rather than insequence. Update of replicas 322-324 is triggered in parallel forreplicas 322-324 (e.g., avoiding a sequential wait of 20-30 minutes foreach update to complete serially, etc.). After update, configurationdata is synchronized between the nodes 320-324.

For example, the master vA 320 completes the update/upgrade and providesfeedback and/or other output regarding whether or not the update wassuccessful or unsuccessful. The master vA 320 then reboots, and thereboot of the master vA 320 triggers the reboot of the replica vAs322-324 to complete the update process, for example. In certainexamples, an update/upgrade can change an entire component (e.g., vA320-324, etc.), not just a service or part of the component.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example data flow/sequence 600 between the mastervA 320 and replica vA 322 to update in response to a trigger (e.g., viathe interface 132, etc.). At 602, the interface 132 facilitates login toa virtual appliance management infrastructure (VAMI) for the master vA320. For example, the VAMI provides a user (e.g., operator, softwareapplication, other machine, system, etc.) with console and command lineinterface(s) to configure network settings, check and install updates,shutdown and reboot virtual appliances, etc. At 604, an update tab,portion, option, button, etc., is accessed. For example, a tab and/orother portion of an interface (e.g., command line and/or graphical userinterface, etc.) includes a button, trigger, and/or other option toinitiate an update.

At 606-608, an update check is performed. For example, based on theupdate trigger, the update manager 470 checks the external repository502 to determine whether or not an update is available to one or morecomponents, services, etc., currently installed on the vA 320. Updatescan include operating system update(s), application update(s),management agent/endpoint update(s), tool update(s), etc. At 610, theavailable update(s) are made available via the interface 132.

At 612, the update(s) are performed via the update manager 470 of the vA320 (e.g., as triggered via the interface 132, etc.). At 614-616,requested update(s) are downloaded to the master vA 320 from the updaterepository 502. For example, one or more files related to operatingsystem update(s), application update(s), management agent/endpointupdate(s), tool update(s), etc., are downloaded to the master vA 320from the update repository 502 via the update manager 470. At 618,pre-update package(s) (e.g., one or more ISO and/or other image files,executables, etc.) downloaded from the repository 502 are installed atthe master vA 320. For example, pre-update packages can be installed toverify prerequisite(s), dependency(-ies), proper download(s), and/orotherwise position the vA 320 for application of the update, forexample.

At 620, services at the replica vA 322 are stopped. For example,configuration service(s), connector service(s), gateway service(s), dataservice(s), etc., are stopped at the vA 322 (e.g., using its updatemanager, etc.) for the update. At 622, a local update repository 504 iscreated at the master vA 320 based on the update content (e.g.,pre-update package(s), update file(s), etc.) downloaded from the updaterepository 502 by the master vA 320. Then, at 624, the update package(s)downloaded at the master vA 320 are installed at the master vA 320(e.g., facilitated by the update manager 470).

Following completion of installation at the master vA 320, the master vA320 triggers the replica vA 322 to perform an update with respect to thelocal repository 504. At 628, the replica vA 322 (e.g., using its updatehandler) accesses the local repository 504 to download availableupdate(s), and, at 630, the local repository 504 providesavailable/applicable update(s) to the replica vA 322. The download ofupdate(s) can occur in parallel for a plurality of replica vAs 322, 324,for example. At 632, the update(s) occur at the replica vA 322. Incertain examples, a plurality of replica vA 322-324 install update(s) inparallel.

At 634, the master vA 320 reboots to complete the update process. At636, the replica vA 322 is instructed to reboot to complete its updateprocess. For example, update(s) complete and service(s) restart at thevA 320, 322 upon reboot to resume operation of the updated vA 320, 322.At 638, a result of the update at the master vA 320 and replica vA 322is reported. For example, a text-based and/or graphical report can besent to a user and/or other system via the interface 132, a log file canbe created, an acknowledgement and/or other response can be sent to atriggering device, etc., to indicate success, failure, status, error(s),and/or other details regarding the update(s) of the vA 320, 322.

While example implementations of the example cloud computing system 100and virtual machine installation 300, 500 are illustrated in FIGS. 1-6,one or more of the elements, processes and/or devices illustrated inFIGS. 1-6 may be combined, divided, re-arranged, omitted, eliminatedand/or implemented in any other way. Further, the example applicationdirector 106, example cloud provider 110, example cloud manager 138,example distributed execution managers 146A, 146B, example multi-machineservice 210, example load balancer 310, example virtual appliances320-324, example component servers 330-336, example management endpoints340-344, example management agents 350-356, and/or, more generally, theexample systems 100, 300, and/or 500 of FIGS. 1-6 can be implemented byhardware, software, firmware and/or any combination of hardware,software and/or firmware. Thus, for example, any of the exampleapplication director 106, example cloud provider 110, example cloudmanager 138, example distributed execution managers 146A, 146B, examplemulti-machine service 210, example load balancer 310, example virtualappliances 320-324, example component servers 330-336, examplemanagement endpoints 340-344, example management agents 350-356, and/or,more generally, the example systems 100, 300, and/or 500 of FIGS. 1-6can be implemented by one or more analog or digital circuit(s), logiccircuits, programmable processor(s), application specific integratedcircuit(s) (ASIC(s)), programmable logic device(s) (PLD(s)) and/or fieldprogrammable logic device(s) (FPLD(s)). When reading any of theapparatus or system claims of this patent to cover a purely softwareand/or firmware implementation, at least one of the example applicationdirector 106, example cloud provider 110, example cloud manager 138,example distributed execution managers 146A, 146B, example multi-machineservice 210, example load balancer 310, example virtual appliances320-324, example component servers 330-336, example management endpoints340-344, example management agents 350-356, and/or, more generally, theexample systems 100, 300, and/or 500 of FIGS. 1-6 is/are herebyexpressly defined to include a tangible computer readable storage deviceor storage disk such as a memory, a digital versatile disk (DVD), acompact disk (CD), a Blu-ray disk, etc. storing the software and/orfirmware. Further still, the example application director 106, examplecloud provider 110, example cloud manager 138, example distributedexecution managers 146A, 146B, example multi-machine service 210,example load balancer 310, example virtual appliances 320-324, examplecomponent servers 330-336, example management endpoints 340-344, examplemanagement agents 350-356, and/or, more generally, the example systems100, 300, and/or 500 of FIGS. 1-6 may include one or more elements,processes and/or devices in addition to, or instead of, thoseillustrated in FIGS. 1-6, and/or may include more than one of any or allof the illustrated elements, processes and devices.

Flowcharts representative of example machine readable instructions thatmay be executed to deploy and manage the example application director106, example cloud provider 110, example cloud manager 138, exampledistributed execution managers 146A, 146B, example multi-machine service210, example load balancer 310, example virtual appliances 320-324,example component servers 330-336, example management endpoints 340-344,example management agents 350-356, and/or, more generally, the examplesystems 100, 300, and/or 500 of FIGS. 1-6 are shown in FIGS. 7-10. Inthese examples, the machine readable instructions implement programs forexecution by a processor such as the processor 1112 shown in the exampleprocessor platform 1100 discussed below in connection with FIG. 11. Theprograms may be embodied in software stored on a tangible computerreadable storage medium such as a CD-ROM, a floppy disk, a hard drive, adigital versatile disk (DVD), a Blu-ray disk, or a memory associatedwith the processor 1112, but the entire program and/or parts thereofcould alternatively be executed by a device other than the processor1112 and/or embodied in firmware or dedicated hardware. Further,although the example programs are described with reference to theflowcharts illustrated in FIGS. 7-10, many other methods of deploying,managing, and updating workload domains in accordance with the teachingsof this disclosure may alternatively be used. For example, the order ofexecution of the blocks may be changed, and/or some of the blocksdescribed may be changed, eliminated, or combined.

As mentioned above, the example processes of FIGS. 6-10 may beimplemented using coded instructions (e.g., computer and/or machinereadable instructions) stored on a tangible computer readable storagemedium such as a hard disk drive, a flash memory, a read-only memory(ROM), a compact disk (CD), a digital versatile disk (DVD), a cache, arandom-access memory (RAM) and/or any other storage device or storagedisk in which information is stored for any duration (e.g., for extendedtime periods, permanently, for brief instances, for temporarilybuffering, and/or for caching of the information). As used herein, theterm tangible computer readable storage medium is expressly defined toinclude any type of computer readable storage device and/or storage diskand to exclude propagating signals and to exclude transmission media. Asused herein, “tangible computer readable storage medium” and “tangiblemachine readable storage medium” are used interchangeably. In someexamples, the example processes of FIGS. 6-10 may be implemented usingcoded instructions (e.g., computer and/or machine readable instructions)stored on a non-transitory computer and/or machine readable medium suchas a hard disk drive, a flash memory, a read-only memory, a compactdisk, a digital versatile disk, a cache, a random-access memory and/orany other storage device or storage disk in which information is storedfor any duration (e.g., for extended time periods, permanently, forbrief instances, for temporarily buffering, and/or for caching of theinformation). As used herein, the term non-transitory computer readablemedium is expressly defined to include any type of computer readablestorage device and/or storage disk and to exclude propagating signalsand to exclude transmission media. As used herein, when the phrase “atleast” is used as the transition term in a preamble of a claim, it isopen-ended in the same manner as the term “comprising” is open ended.Comprising and all other variants of “comprise” are expressly defined tobe open-ended terms. Including and all other variants of “include” arealso defined to be open-ended terms. In contrast, the term consistingand/or other forms of consist are defined to be close-ended terms.

FIG. 7 depicts a flowchart representative of computer readableinstructions that may be executed to implement the example update of vAs320-324. An example program 700 is illustrated in FIG. 7. Initially, atblock 702, an update is initiated. For example, a user, application,system, device, etc., triggers an update of the master vA 320. At block704, the update repository 502 is checked for available and applicableupdate(s). If an update is found, then, at block 706, files/packagesrelated to the update are downloaded to the master vA 320 from theupdate repository 502. For example, one or more files related tooperating system update(s), application update(s), managementagent/endpoint update(s), tool update(s), etc. (e.g., ISO and/or otherimage files, executables, etc.), are downloaded to the master vA 320from the update repository 502 via the update manager 470.

At block 708, pre-update configuration is facilitated. For example,pre-update packages can be installed to verify prerequisite(s),dependency(-ies), proper download(s), and/or otherwise position the vA320 for application of the update, for example. In certain examples,service(s) running on the vAs 320-324 are stopped in preparation for theupdate(s). For example, configuration service(s), connector service(s),gateway service(s), data service(s), etc., are stopped at the vA 322(e.g., using its update manager, etc.) for the update. Additionally, thelocal update repository 504 is created at the master vA 320 by themaster vA 320 based on the update content (e.g., pre-update package(s),update file(s), etc.) downloaded from the update repository 502 by themaster vA 320.

At block 710, the update is performed. For example, the update manager470 facilitates installation of the downloaded update package(s) at themaster vA 320, and installation of corresponding update package(s) fromthe local repository 504 at the replica vAs 322-324 is triggered by theupdate manager 470 of the master vA 320. For example, the replica vA 322(e.g., using its update handler) accesses the local repository 504 todownload available update(s), and, at 630, the local repository 504provides available/applicable update(s) to the replica vA 322. Thedownload of update(s) can occur in parallel for a plurality of replicavAs 322, 324, for example. At 632, the update(s) occur at the replica vA322. In certain examples, a plurality of replica vA 322-324 installupdate(s) in parallel.

At block 712, post-update activity is conducted. For example, the vAs320-324 reboot to complete the update process and restart services forvA 320-324 operation. For example, update(s) complete and service(s)restart at the vA 320-324 upon reboot to resume operation of the updatedvA 320-324. Additionally, a result of the update at the master vA 320and replica vA 322, 324 is reported. For example, a text-based and/orgraphical report can be sent to a user and/or other system via theinterface 132, a log file can be created, an acknowledgement and/orother response can be sent to a triggering device, etc., to indicatesuccess, failure, status, error(s), and/or other details regarding theupdate(s) of the vA 320-324.

FIG. 8 illustrates further detail regarding an example implementation offacilitating pre-update configuration at block 708 of the example ofFIG. 7. At block 802, pre-update packages are installed. For example,one more pre-update packages can be installed to verify prerequisite(s),dependency(-ies), proper download(s), and/or otherwise position the vA320 for application of the update, for example. At block 804, service(s)running on the vAs 320-324 are stopped in preparation for the update(s).For example, configuration service(s), connector service(s), gatewayservice(s), data service(s), etc., are stopped at the vA 322, 324 (e.g.,using its update manager, etc.) for the update. At block 806, the localupdate repository 504 is created at the master vA 320 by the master vA320 based on the update content (e.g., pre-update package(s), updatefile(s), etc.) downloaded from the update repository 502 by the mastervA 320. For example, the update manager 470 identifies the updatecontent downloaded to the master vA 320 from the update repository 502and organizes the update content as a local repository 504 accessible bythe replica vAs 322-324 in place of the remote update repository 502.Rather than interacting with the remote update repository 502 andincurring data communication delays, the replica vA(s) 322-324 caninteract with and obtain their update content from the local repository504 formed at the master vA 320, for example. Such a local repositoryimproves responsiveness, reduces update time, reduces externalcommunication, and provides other technological improvements andbenefits to updating a virtual computing system, for example. Controlthen returns to block 710 to perform the update.

FIG. 9 illustrates further detail regarding an example implementation offacilitating pre-update configuration at block 710 of the example ofFIG. 7. At block 902, updated packages are installed at the master vA320. For example, the update manager 470 facilitates installation of thedownloaded update package(s) at the master vA 320. At block 904, updatepackages are downloaded for installation from the local repository 504at the replica vA 322-324. For example, installation of correspondingupdate package(s) from the local repository 504 at the replica vAs322-324 is triggered by the update manager 470 of the master vA 320. Forexample, the replica vA 322, 324 (e.g., using its update handler)accesses the local repository 504 to download available update(s) to thereplica vA 322, 324. At block 906, the update(s) are installed at thereplica vAs 322-324. The download and installation of update(s) canoccur in parallel for a plurality of replica vAs 322, 324, for example.Control then returns to block 712 for post-update processing.

FIG. 10 illustrates further detail regarding an example implementationof conducting post-update activity at block 712 of the example of FIG.7. At block 1002, the master vA 320 reboots to complete the updateprocess. For example, a reboot of the master vA 320 executes the updatedfunctionality and restarts service(s) of the vA 320 for operation. Atblock 1004, the replica vA 322-324 are reboot to complete their updateprocess. For example, the replica vAs 322-324 reboot to complete theupdate process and restart services for vA 322-324 operation. Forexample, update(s) complete and service(s) restart at the vA 320-324upon reboot to resume operation of the updated vA 320-324. At block1006, a result of the update at the master vA 320 and replica vA 322,324 is reported. For example, a text-based and/or graphical report canbe sent to a user and/or other system via the interface 132, a log filecan be created, an acknowledgement and/or other response can be sent toa triggering device, etc., to indicate success, failure, status,error(s), and/or other details regarding the update(s) of the vA320-324.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram of an example processor platform 1100 capableof executing the instructions of FIGS. 7-10 to implement the examplesystems, operation, and management of FIGS. 1-6. The processor platform1000 of the illustrated example includes a processor 1112. The processor1112 of the illustrated example is hardware. For example, the processor1112 can be implemented by one or more integrated circuits, logiccircuits, microprocessors or controllers from any desired family ormanufacturer.

The processor 1112 of the illustrated example includes a local memory1113 (e.g., a cache), and executes instructions to implement the examplesystems 100, 300, 500 or portions thereof, such as the vA 320-324,component server 330-336, management endpoint 340-344, and managementagent 350-356. The processor 1112 of the illustrated example is incommunication with a main memory including a volatile memory 1114 and anon-volatile memory 1116 via a bus 1118. The volatile memory 1114 may beimplemented by Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory (SDRAM), DynamicRandom Access Memory (DRAM), RAIVIBUS Dynamic Random Access Memory(RDRAM) and/or any other type of random access memory device. Thenon-volatile memory 1116 may be implemented by flash memory and/or anyother desired type of memory device. Access to the main memory 1114,1116 is controlled by a memory controller.

The processor platform 1100 of the illustrated example also includes aninterface circuit 1120. The interface circuit 1120 may be implemented byany type of interface standard, such as an Ethernet interface, auniversal serial bus (USB), and/or a PCI express interface.

In the illustrated example, one or more input devices 1122 are connectedto the interface circuit 1120. The input device(s) 1122 permit(s) a userto enter data and commands into the processor 1112. The input device(s)can be implemented by, for example, an audio sensor, a microphone, akeyboard, a button, a mouse, a touchscreen, a track-pad, a trackball,isopoint and/or a voice recognition system.

One or more output devices 1124 are also connected to the interfacecircuit 1120 of the illustrated example. The output devices 1124 can beimplemented, for example, by display devices (e.g., a light emittingdiode (LED), an organic light emitting diode (OLED), a liquid crystaldisplay, a cathode ray tube display (CRT), a touchscreen, a tactileoutput device, a printer and/or speakers). The interface circuit 1120 ofthe illustrated example, thus, typically includes a graphics drivercard, a graphics driver chip or a graphics driver processor.

The interface circuit 1120 of the illustrated example also includes acommunication device such as a transmitter, a receiver, a transceiver, amodem and/or network interface card to facilitate exchange of data withexternal machines (e.g., computing devices of any kind) via a network1126 (e.g., an Ethernet connection, a digital subscriber line (DSL), atelephone line, coaxial cable, a cellular telephone system, etc.).

The processor platform 1100 of the illustrated example also includes oneor more mass storage devices 1128 for storing software and/or data.Examples of such mass storage devices 1128 include flash devices, floppydisk drives, hard drive disks, optical compact disk (CD) drives, opticalBlu-ray disk drives, RAID systems, and optical digital versatile disk(DVD) drives.

Coded instructions 1132 representative of the example machine readableinstructions of FIGS. 8-9 may be stored in the mass storage device 1128,in the volatile memory 1114, in the non-volatile memory 1116, and/or ona removable tangible computer readable storage medium such as a CD orDVD.

In certain examples, the processor 1112 can be used to implement thevirtual appliance 320 (and vAs 322-324) and the component server 330(and servers 332-336) and their components including the managementendpoint 340, service provisioner 410, orchestrator 420, event broker430, authentication provider 440, proxy 450, database 460, updatemanager 470, etc.

From the foregoing, it will be appreciated that the above disclosedmethods, apparatus and articles of manufacture facilitate cloning anagent in a distributed environment such as a cloud computing environmentand management of agents in the distributed environment. Examplesdisclosed herein facilitate self-evaluation and registration of clonedservers and agents without further user intervention or cloud oversight.

An example apparatus includes a first virtual appliance configured toinstall an update using an update file from a first update repository,the first update repository located apart from the first virtualappliance, the first virtual appliance configured to form a secondupdate repository at the first virtual appliance, the second updaterepository to include a copy of the update file from the first updaterepository. The example apparatus also includes a second virtualappliance, the second virtual appliance formed as a replica of the firstvirtual appliance, the second virtual appliance to install the updateusing the copy of the update file from the second update repository.

In some examples, the first virtual appliance is to install a pre-updatepackage to prepare for the update. In some examples, the pre-updatepackage includes a prerequisite check for the update. In some examples,the first virtual appliance is to stop services at the second virtualappliance prior to the update by the second virtual appliance.

In some examples, the first virtual appliance and the second virtualappliance are to reboot following the update. In some examples, thefirst virtual appliance is to trigger the reboot of the second virtualappliance.

In some examples, the apparatus further includes a third virtualappliance, the third virtual appliance formed as a replica of the firstvirtual appliance, the third virtual appliance to install the updateusing the copy of the update file from the second update repository inparallel with the second virtual appliance.

An example computer readable storage medium includes instructions that,when executed, cause a machine to implement at least a first virtualappliance configured to install an update using an update file from afirst update repository, the first update repository located apart fromthe first virtual appliance, the first virtual appliance configured toform a second update repository at the first virtual appliance, thesecond update repository to include a copy of the update file from thefirst update repository; and a second virtual appliance, the secondvirtual appliance formed as a replica of the first virtual appliance,the second virtual appliance to install the update using the copy of theupdate file from the second update repository.

In some examples, the first virtual appliance is to install a pre-updatepackage to prepare for the update. In some examples, the pre-updatepackage includes a prerequisite check for the update. In some examples,the first virtual appliance is to stop services at the second virtualappliance prior to the update by the second virtual appliance.

In some examples, the first virtual appliance and the second virtualappliance are to reboot following the update. In some examples, thefirst virtual appliance is to trigger the reboot of the second virtualappliance.

In some examples, the storage medium includes instructions that, whenexecuted, cause the machine to implement a third virtual appliance, thethird virtual appliance formed as a replica of the first virtualappliance, the third virtual appliance to install the update using thecopy of the update file from the second update repository in parallelwith the second virtual appliance.

An example method includes retrieving, at a first virtual appliance, anupdate file from a first update repository, the first update repositorylocated apart from the first virtual appliance. The example methodincludes forming, at the first virtual appliance, a second updaterepository including the update file from the first update repository.The example method includes installing, at the first virtual appliance,an update using the update file. The example method includes triggeringinstallation, at a third virtual appliance, the second virtual applianceformed as a replica of the first virtual appliance, installation of theupdate using the copy of the update file from the second updaterepository.

In some examples, the method further includes installing, at the firstvirtual appliance, a pre-update package to prepare for the update. Insome examples, the pre-update package includes a prerequisite check forthe update. In some examples, the method further includes stoppingservices at the second virtual appliance prior to the update by thesecond virtual appliance.

In some examples, the method further includes rebooting the firstvirtual appliance and the second virtual appliance following the update.

In some examples, the method further includes installing, at a thirdvirtual appliance, the update using the update file from the secondupdate repository in parallel with installing the update at the secondvirtual appliance.

Although certain example methods, apparatus and articles of manufacturehave been disclosed herein, the scope of coverage of this patent is notlimited thereto. On the contrary, this patent covers all methods,apparatus and articles of manufacture fairly falling within the scope ofthe claims of this patent.

What is claimed is:
 1. An apparatus comprising: a first virtualappliance configured to install an update from an update file of a firstupdate repository, the first update repository located apart from thefirst virtual appliance, the first virtual appliance configured to forma second update repository at the first virtual appliance, the secondupdate repository to include a copy of the update file from the firstupdate repository; and a second virtual appliance, the second virtualappliance formed as a replica of the first virtual appliance, the secondvirtual appliance to, upon a trigger by the first virtual applianceinstructing the second virtual appliance to update from the secondupdate repository following the installation of the update at the firstvirtual appliance, install the update using the copy of the update filefrom the second update repository, the first virtual appliance and thesecond virtual appliance to synchronize configuration after the firstvirtual appliance and the second virtual appliance have installed theupdate.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first virtual applianceis to install a pre-update package to prepare for the update.
 3. Theapparatus of claim 2, wherein the pre-update package includes aprerequisite check for the update.
 4. The apparatus of claim 2, whereinthe first virtual appliance is to stop services at the second virtualappliance prior to installation of the update by the second virtualappliance.
 5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first virtualappliance and the second virtual appliance are to reboot followinginstallation of the update.
 6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein thefirst virtual appliance is to trigger the reboot of the second virtualappliance.
 7. The apparatus of claim 1, further including a thirdvirtual appliance, the third virtual appliance formed as a replica ofthe first virtual appliance, the third virtual appliance to install theupdate using the copy of the update file from the second updaterepository in parallel with the second virtual appliance.
 8. A tangiblecomputer readable storage medium comprising instructions that, whenexecuted, cause a machine to at least: retrieve, at a first virtualappliance, an update file from a first update repository, the firstupdate repository located apart from the first virtual appliance; form,at the first virtual appliance, a second update repository including acopy of the update file from the first update repository; install, atthe first virtual appliance, an update using the update file; andtrigger, by the first virtual appliance, installation of the update at asecond virtual appliance using the copy of the update file from thesecond update repository, the second virtual appliance formed as areplica of the first virtual appliance, the trigger to instruct thesecond virtual appliance to update from the second update repository;and synchronize configuration after the first virtual appliance and thesecond virtual appliance have installed the update.
 9. The storagemedium of claim 8, wherein the instructions, when executed, cause thefirst virtual appliance to install a pre-update package to prepare forthe update.
 10. The storage medium of claim 9, wherein the pre-updatepackage includes a prerequisite check for the update.
 11. The storagemedium of claim 9, wherein the instructions, when executed, cause thefirst virtual appliance to stop services at the second virtual applianceprior to the update by the second virtual appliance.
 12. The storagemedium of claim 8, wherein the instructions, when executed, cause thefirst virtual appliance and the second virtual appliance to rebootfollowing installation of the update.
 13. The storage medium of claim12, wherein the first virtual appliance is to trigger the reboot of thesecond virtual appliance.
 14. The storage medium of claim 8, wherein theinstructions, when executed, cause the machine to implement a thirdvirtual appliance, the third virtual appliance formed as a replica ofthe first virtual appliance, the third virtual appliance to install theupdate using the copy of the update file from the second updaterepository in parallel with the second virtual appliance.
 15. A methodcomprising: retrieving, at a first virtual appliance, an update filefrom a first update repository, the first update repository locatedapart from the first virtual appliance; forming, at the first virtualappliance, a second update repository including a copy of the updatefile from the first update repository; installing, at the first virtualappliance, an update using the update file; triggering, by the firstvirtual appliance, installation of the update at a second virtualappliance using the copy of the update file from the second updaterepository, the second virtual appliance formed as a replica of thefirst virtual appliance, the triggering to instruct the second virtualappliance to update from the second update repository; and synchronizingconfiguration after the first virtual appliance and the second virtualappliance have installed the update.
 16. The method of claim 15, furtherincluding installing, at the first virtual appliance, a pre-updatepackage to prepare for the update.
 17. The method of claim 16, whereininstalling the pre-update package includes checking prerequisites forthe update.
 18. The method of claim 16, further including stoppingservices at the second virtual appliance prior to the update by thesecond virtual appliance.
 19. The method of claim 15, further includingrebooting the first virtual appliance and the second virtual appliancefollowing installation of the update.
 20. The method of claim 15,further including installing, at a third virtual appliance, the updateusing the copy of the update file from the second update repository inparallel with installing the update at the second virtual appliance.